Entertainment

Avatar: The Last Airbender producers talk VFX, connecting with fans

Interview with VFX supervisors Jabbar Raisani, Marion Spates

All production images c/o Netflix

Published

February 26, 2024

Manila Connoisseur

The Avatar: The Last Airbender fever is officially on. The Netflix live-action adaptation of the Nickelodeon classic can now be streamed on the platform. Gordon Cormier, who plays Aang, and Dallas Liu, who plays Prince Zuko, also visited Manila to grace the show’s premiere.

Gordon Cormier (Aang) and Dallas Liu (Zuko) during their Press Conference in the Philippines

Reception has been generally good so far. An aspect of the eight-episode series that stands out is its visual effects. Many critics noted how the series has transported them to a vast and different world.

It was as if traveling from one place to another across a stunning world. Each area offered a distinct feel — from Wolf Cove to Kyoshu Island to Omashu, Roku’s Temple, and more.

We had the opportunity to speak with the series’ VFX supervisors, Jabbar Raisani and Marion Spates. Raisani has been involved in films like Fantastic Four and Iron Man, as well as Game of Thrones. On the other hand, Spates worked in the production for WandaVision. Both were part of the team behind Stranger Things.

They told us a lot about the VFX side of things, as well as the entire process of crafting each episode that fans can now immerse themselves into.

Air, like water, is hard

In an interview with IGN, Raisani noted how complex it was to add water-bending effects to the live-action series. This was because of the physics of how water works.

Spates told us that air-bending was just as difficult to create, simply because we can’t see it. “One thing we wanted to do was to try and give it some substance, but we didn’t want to add like, a color to it,” he said. Apparently, the F-22 jet served as the main inspiration for the artists to create the air-bending effects.

“If you look at the back of it or in-flight, you see there’s a lot of heat distortion in the imagery,” Spates shared. “We stole that idea to actually mimic what the air would look like on top of the backgrounds.”

It’s always about the benders

From the start of the process, Raisani ensured that the visual effects looked realistic by having the cast “drive everything.”

“We really never wanted any of the bending have a mind of its own,” Raisani said of their team’s approach. In fact, is some instances, they would even retime the footage to make sure everything is in sync. This ultimately allowed them to “properly tell the story.”

“That way, the movement corresponded better with the performance we had to create with the VFX,” Raisani said. “We never wanted to deviate from performance driving bending.”

Spates furthered by saying the actors’ performance played a crucial part in what they wanted to execute. This includes the motions, hand movements, eye contact, and everything in between. For instance, when Katara (Kiawentiio) did a lot of gestures for her water-bending scenes, the VFX artists made sure to follow.

“Definitely, their actions drove all of the bending, whether it’s fire, air, earth, or water,” Spates pointed out. “Especially with the water, Katara’s moving her arm in a certain way, we wanted the water to flow a certain way. We wanted the bending to be a part of their motion, their character, they’re driving it.”

Live-action series ‘wouldn’t have been possible 5 years ago’

In 2010, Avatar got a movie adaptation produced and directed by M. Night Shyamalan called The Last Airbender. It… was not taken well by critics, to say the least. Make no mistake, its VFX wasn’t the only reason why the film was deemed a disaster.

But it’s true that VFX technology has dramatically advanced over the years. Raisani said without the existing technology today, they wouldn’t have been able to pull the Netflix version off.

“I don’t think a series like this would have been possible five years ago,” he said. “The complexity, the quantity, the VFX characters that are really characters in the story … that type of work has to be done in such a large volume of shots.”

We wouldn’t have been able to make this show earlier than we did. It still was difficult, so we only just made it.

Connecting with fans, old and new

Netflix’s version of Avatar: The Last Airbender was conceptualized in 2018. The production started the following year. One of the major hurdles was the departure of the animated series’ original creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko. Albert Kim eventually took over as writer, executive producer and showrunner in 2021, and the rest is history.

In terms of connecting with its fanbase, the producers consciously referenced the Netflix version to the original as much as possible so viewers can feel the link between the two series.

“We hope it has a little bit of its own feeling but it relates pretty much to the animated series,” Spates said. “We tried to mimic the animated series as much as possible, but it obviously has a little bit of its own flavor.”

All eight episodes of Avatar: The Last Airbender is now streaming on Netflix.

Entertainment

A Minecraft Movie is getting a sequel

It’s scheduled to premiere in July 2027.

Published

October 10, 2025

Luigi Leonardo

A Minecraft Movie was decidedly not for me. However, there’s no denying how much the movie was so effective for younger fans and gamers who grew up with Minecraft. It’s one of the highest-grossing movies this year. Even if I didn’t personally like it, I still consider it a success for videogame adaptations. Now, recognizing the film’s success, Warner Bros. has signed off on a sequel to Jack Black’s blocky caper, as confirmed by Variety.

It’s a mystery where the sequel will take players. Not to spoil anything, but the original movie did end with virtually loose ends neatly tied into a bow. Then again, Minecraft is an endless well of content. Where one story ends, another can just as easily open up in its place. As a game, it’s a completely open sandbox where nothing is limited.

However, to establish continuity, the sequel is reportedly tapping the talents of director Jared Hess once again. Chris Galleta might also come back to write the screenplay.

Interestingly, Jack Black is not confirmed yet. But given how much of a star he was as Steve, it’s hard to imagine a sequel without his energy, so it’s likely that he’s coming back. On a more positive note, Jason Momoa, who co-starred as Garrett Garrison, is expected to co-produce the sequel.

Warner Bros. has currently scheduled the sequel’s premiere on July 23, 2027.

SEE ALSO: Now Playing: A Minecraft Movie

Entertainment

Is this baby Rosalina in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie?

The unnamed baby is wearing the same colors and has a wand.

Published

October 8, 2025

Luigi Leonardo

Less than a month ago, Nintendo announced a sequel to the widely lauded Super Mario Bros. Movie. The upcoming Super Mario Galaxy Movie will take audiences to outer space. It’s based, of course, on the game of the same name. Since the movie is coming out in the first half of 2026, Nintendo doesn’t have a lot of time to hype audiences for the sequel. However, the company might have just sneakily released its first teaser.

Right now, we don’t know much about the sequel’s story. All we know is that most of the main cast is coming back to reprise their roles, including Jack Black as Bowser. However, we still haven’t seen hints of a new character critical to the Galaxy series: Rosalina.

Today, Nintendo posted a mysterious video, titled Close to You, on its social platforms. The four-minute animated video shows an unnamed baby playing in their room. Suddenly, their pacifier starts floating away. The baby tries to get it back, but it floats to a mobile high up above the baby’s crib. The baby then presumably takes their first steps and falls before their mom catches them. Then, the video ends abruptly without so much as a title card.

Though the video is a mystery, there’s a high chance that the baby is Rosalina, Super Mario Galaxy’s space princess. The baby, who is also blonde, is coincidentally wearing the same colors as Rosalina. For a short time, they’re also holding what looks like a wand. Could this be a baby Rosalina?

Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait for Nintendo to confirm the baby’s identity… or even what this video is about. If it is a teaser for the movie, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie premieres on April 3, 2026.

Entertainment

I took the vivo V60 to Han So Hee’s fanmeet

Fan energy, camera tested

Published

October 3, 2025

Rodneil Quiteles

Photos shot on the vivo V60

It’s not every day you get to see Han So Hee in person. On September 13, I found myself at her Manila fan meeting. This was my first time at a fan meet, and the energy was noticeably different from the K-Pop girl group concerts I frequent—softer, more intimate, but just as filled with devotion.

Han So Hee was visibly tired, but that almost made the night more moving. You could see her push through with genuine effort to show appreciation for her fans. At one point, she even stepped off the stage to take a selfie with a fan who had shared a deeply personal story. I wasn’t fast enough to capture it, but the moment spoke volumes.

This isn’t the aforementioned moment. Close enough, though.

The fanmeet

The program had playful bits too. A highlight was when she was asked to copy poses from fan art. It was a treat both for the fans and for my camera—visually sharp, fun to shoot, and perfectly suited for social feeds.

Somewhere in between, she also revealed a small but telling personal preference: she’s a binge-watcher. She wants to know how a story ends, so she’d rather power through a series than wait week after week.

So Hee thinking about her answer during the quiz session where we learned she’s a binge-watcher.

And then there was the hi-touch session. I wasn’t sure how I’d react until it was my turn. I walked up, scrunched my nose at her, and she did the same back.

It wasn’t a hi-five, it was a firmware upgrade for my soul.

We weren’t allowed to take photos or videos during hi-touch so this is So Hee with a cute pouty face instead.

The funny thing is, before the event, a friend had asked me which of her dramas they should watch. Without hesitation, I rattled off a list—My Name and Soundtrack #1 topping my recommendations. That’s when I realized I wasn’t just there to test a device. Somewhere along the way, I’d actually become a fan.

vivo V60

Still, I did bring along the vivo V60. Seated further from the stage, it became the perfect challenge for the phone’s telephoto camera and Stage Mode. I was a bit disappointed to learn that Stage Mode only worked for photos this time around. I’d had such a good time using it for fancams on the vivo X200 Pro that it felt like a step back.

Even so, the V60 held up. Shots within a reasonable range looked clean, and those where I didn’t push the zoom too hard were the best. Once you go beyond 10x, things get dicey.

At that point, it’s less ‘zoom’ and more ‘interpretive art,’ but Han So Hee’s face card refused to fold.

But that’s also the charm—having a camera that helps you capture fleeting moments, even from a distance, made me appreciate the fan meeting differently.

That night wasn’t really about testing tech. It was about being present for a star who, despite the fatigue, showed up wholeheartedly. The V60 was just my lens into it all—a reminder that sometimes the best shots are the ones that let you relive how it felt to be there.